Wallabies must be more consistent against battled-hardened Wales: Grey

Cardiff: Wallabies defence coach Nathan Grey says Australia are desperately striving for consistency and believes Wales will be a tougher proposition than recent years because they have an extra game under their belt.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being on the Wallabies coaching staff is watching the disparity between the team’s best and worst.

On the flipside, there have been some ghastly periods of play. The first half in Salta, before the epic half-time spray from Michael Cheika that probably saved his job. The lineout debacle in Bledisloe I. Kurtley Beale’s opening minute blunder in Port Elizabeth. The list goes on.

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Grey labelled consistency “the holy grail” of coaching and said it was something he had been drilling into the group ahead of their first match of the spring tour against Wales on Saturday.

“We’re seeking consistency of excellence, that is what we want,” Grey said. “There have been parts where we have defended really well as a side, both individually and collectively. It’s a matter of getting that consistency across the park for a full 80 minutes.”

Last year from 14 matches Australia conceded an average of 28.3 points per game. From 10 fixtures this year, that figure is slightly lower at 26.8.

From their last two matches, against Argentina and New Zealand, the Wallabies have given up 71 points.

The Salta match was remarkable, with the Wallabies coming back from the brink of humiliation at half-time, trailing 31-7, to record a 45-34 victory.

“That game was certainly interesting around the ability for the players to have that belief in themselves and just go and execute both sides of the ball,” Grey said. “When we do that, and we have that belief and that consistency, we can damage people with the ball and without the ball.”

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Wales are coming off the back of a 21-10 victory over Scotland, the first time they have won the first match of a November international series since 2002.

Last year and in 2016 Warren Gatland’s men fell to the Wallabies in their first hit-out, coming into the matches underdone in terms of game time.

While the Scotland victory was nothing extraordinary, Grey believes they will be better off for it when the whistle is blown this weekend at Principality Stadium.

“The fact they’ve got that extra game under their belt coming into this series is something that is going to give them confidence,” Grey said. “They played very well against Scotland. They cleared their bench at the back end of the game to give those guys a little bit of experience at that international level.

“They’d be looking at themselves as a different proposition to this time last year when we were their first game. Warren and the team planned that for a reason but we’re certainly ready ourselves.

“They’ve put a string of performances together that they’d be very happy with, winning six on the trot against good opposition.”

Grey also said it was great having Adam Ashley-Cooper back around the Wallabies setup after a two-year break from the international scene.

“As a coach you’re not on the field but Adam is someone who understands the way how we want to play and how we want to defend,” Grey said. “He’s been away for a while so he’s still getting the nuances around what we’re doing … but he understands the game really well.”